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CERF gives $882,075 to provide life-saving transport assistance to stranded South Sudanese

Countries
Sudan
+ 1 more
Sources
OCHA
Publication date

7 June 2012 : Following the independence of South Sudan on 9 July 2011, South Sudanese were given a transition period until 8 April 2012 to either regularise their status in Sudan or to return to South Sudan. An estimated 12,000 South Sudanese remain stranded in Kosti way-station in Sudan, a transit centre on the Nile that was originally established to accommodate 1,200 people. However, the majority of South Sudanese in Sudan do not possess legal documentation that would allow them to regularise their stay. All transit by barge from Kosti has been halted and those stranded there have no means to return to South Sudan.

Of those in Kosti, 46 per cent of new arrivals are female-headed households and 16 per cent are under age 5, according to United Nations estimates. As returnees have been stranded at the way-station for a long period of time, any savings they once had has been depleted and they depend on humanitarian agencies to provide needed food, water, sanitation facilities and healthcare.

In response to the urgent need to provide safe transportation for South Sudanese from Kosti way station to South Sudan, the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) gave US$882,075 in rapid response grants to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to facilitate the screening and safe transport of returnees. IOM will provide fit-to-travel medical screening for all passengers to ensure those persons requiring special assistance, including those who are sick, elderly or pregnant, are provided with medical care.

For more information about the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund, visit the CERF website : http://www.unocha.org/cerf

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.